Authentic Tandoori Chicken Recipe

1 Text recipe

Make a marinade of yoghurt, lime juice, chilli powder or paprika, five spice powder (we would used "garam masala" which is a powder of cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, nutmeg and pepper corns) paste of green chillis, ginger-garlic paste, a pinch of red food colouring and salt. Marinate it for at least three to four hours (leaving it overnight would be best). Then heat your oven, pop the chicken pieces in an oven-proof dish, pour in a little of the marinade and for the effect of the "tandoor" place a piece of live-coal in your oven (it gives a wonderful aroma). It takes around 10-15 minutes to get done but around half way open the oven and brush the chicken with oil. Make sure not to overdo it. It should be just done for the chicken to be nice and succulent. When it is nice and dry serve it on a bed of lettuce with lemon wedges (which could also be squeesed on the chicken before serving) and a sprig of parsley.

Tandoori is a style of cooking which is close to grilling. In olden times it used to be done in big clay pots which used to be put under the ground for the meat to cook..but now we have "tandoors" or ovens could be used too.